Send Tattoo to Fantasy Island

The back of your shoulder has a beautifully scripted “Pete” surrounded by a heart and various flourishes. It’s a medium-sized tattoo that you’ve had for about five years.

Fortunately for your sanity, unfortunately for your shoulder, you told Pete to hit the road after three years. Now you’re stuck with his name on your shoulder and don’t quite know what to do about it.

At Northcoast Laser Cosmetics we know what to do about Pete. Tell his tattoo to hit the road just as you did him. Let us take off the tattoo with our lasers.

How you used to have to remove a tattoo

Tattoos have been around for thousands of years. Sometimes what seemed like a good idea at the time — putting Pete in 70-point type on your shoulder, for instance — often later seems dubious. A tattoo can get in the way of being hired for a job you want, or it can start looking less than marvelous as your skin sags with age.

In the old days, there were two ways to get rid of a tattoo. You could have the tattoo ground off with a dermabrasion tool. Or you could have the skin surgically removed. Both of those options left serious scars.

Fortunately, lasers have revolutionized tattoo removal, making it easy to bid adieu to Pete and his unwanted commemorative ink.

How does laser tattoo removal work?

We have an assortment of lasers at Northcoast, and we may need to use two or three different lasers on your tattoo. How easy it is to remove your tattoo is dependent on the colors involved, how deep the ink was placed, the location, and a couple of other factors. Black, red, dark orange and dark blue colors respond quickly to treatment while green, purple, brown, light orange and light blue take more persistence.

The laser delivers a quick (billionths of a second), high-energy pulse onto your skin. The pigment in the tattoo absorbs the laser energy. This energy breaks the pigment into particles small enough that the body’s lymphatic system can flush them from the body.

How many treatments will I need?

As mentioned above, the colors of your tattoo will dictate how easy it is to remove your tattoo. Most tattoos require some treatments spaced from six to eight weeks apart. The number of treatments varies widely, anywhere from three to 13 treatments.

Want to get rid of that last memory of Pete? Call us at Northcoast Laser, 440-NEW-FACE, and let’s get started on tattoo removal.